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Obama tries to stop AIG bonuses: ‘How do they justify this outrage?’

“This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed,” Obama told politicians and reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where he and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner were unveiling a package to aid the nation’s small businesses.

“Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”

After inflaming public sentiment what does Obama do …… waffles. Did someone remind him that he was the top recipient of AIG Political Cash and that AIG’s Derivative Unit, the Unit receiving the bonuses in question, are big Contributors to the Democratic Party. Read about the “waffle” below …..

Proposal to tax bailout bonuses draws scrutiny

White House is cool to bill; Could violate constitution

WASHINGTON – Days after President Obama pledged to explore “every single legal avenue” to recover $165 million in bonuses paid to executives at bailed-out insurance company AIG, administration officials yesterday shied away from an effort in Congress to heavily tax the bonuses.

Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden’s economic adviser, told ABC’s “This Week” yesterday, that a bill the House passed overwhelmingly on Thursday may go too far and could be unconstitutional because it uses the tax code “to surgically punish a small group.”

“That may be a dangerous way to go,” he said of the bill, which slaps a 90 percent tax on executives who make more than $200,000 per year at firms that have taken more than $5 billion in government funds.

White House chief economic adviser Christina Romer told CNN’s State of the Union that a tandem effort in the Senate which broadens the bill to include firms that have not taken federal funds may not be looked upon favorably by the White House.

The bonus scandal is just a smoke screen to keep people from questioning why the AIG and Financial Institution Bailout Cash was channelled to Hedge Funds. The same Hedge Funds now being invited to “buy back” or repurchase “toxic assets” in the latest Government Program. The first round of “bailouts” paid 100 cents on the dollar for the “assets” – these same assets are now being “repurchased” by Hedge Funds for 10 cents on the dollar.